Event will aid Thomasville coffee shop owner

The community has embraced Mindi Swaney. Regulars at her Monkeez Brew coffee shop in downtown Thomasville are helping to keep the business open while she battles an eating disorder.

BY DWIGHT DAVISThe Dispatch

The community has embraced Mindi Swaney. Regulars at her Monkeez Brew coffee shop in downtown Thomasville are helping to keep the business open while she battles an eating disorder, a demon that has chased her for nearly 20 years.Voices will be uniting Saturday for the 32-year-old in a benefit called Project Provision, which translates as a "means of providing," says chief organizer Melanie Byerly. Byerly's Praise 2 Life Music Academy and other businesses are sponsoring the gospel concert that will feature a cross section of choir members who will represent about 25 churches and 100 voices. The two-hour performance at Finch Auditorium also will include a variety of gospel music, including contemporary tunes. Groups performing include the Father's Four of Thomasville, a men's quartet, and Soul Purpose of Winston-Salem, a trio of gospel singers."Mindi has brought joy and jobs to Thomasville with Monkeez Brew, and now we need to give her and her family the same joy back," Byerly says.The colossal project reflects the magnitude of Swaney's massive medical expenses. The well-known entrepreneur entered North Carolina Memorial Hospital on May 28.Byerly and husband Todd, who attend Rich Fork Baptist Church with the Swaneys, began work on the event this past spring when they heard of Swaney's plight."We heard how bad things were. We were very concerned and broken-hearted," Melanie Byerly says. "She had no insurance and had a hard time being admitted anywhere because she didn't have any insurance. She was finally able to get into UNC Hospital."The Swaney family in the past several years has been plagued with medical issues. Mindi Swaney's father, Steve, received a heart transplant in 2004 and a kidney transplant in 2008.Mindi Swaney was actually released from the hospital Aug. 12 but has remained in the State Employee Credit Union Family House, which provides housing for families who have relatives at the hospital. She needs to be near the hospital until she becomes self-sufficient.At her residence, back in Thomasville, there are obstacles for her, not the least of which are stairs in her home."She's a spunky thing. She can walk but doesn't have any stamina," reports her mother, Kathy Swaney, who teaches at Pilot Elementary School. She took family leave the last school semester to be with her daughter.Mindi Swaney attended Ledford High School where she was a cheerleader and played tennis. She graduated summa cum laude from High Point University.The eating disorder has tormented her since she was 13. Over the past two decades she has been in treatment centers in Arizona and Florida and at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and three times at N.C. Memorial.In recent weeks, her kidneys have failed, and she is being treated by dialysis. When she becomes healthy enough, she will need a kidney transplant.She has a feeding tube and administers her own nutrition."She has a bubbly personality. She has a goal and is doing good things for herself," Kathy Swaney says. "Her blood sugar level has to be at least 80 to take dialysis, and she has to have at least 1,000 calories per day. She is over 1,000, but she needs about 3,000 (calories.)" Mindi Swaney, however, is where she didn't want to go. "At least she did agree to go," her mom says. And hopes for her recovery are much higher than they have been. Swaney reportedly told her doctors that she is going to recover, primarily because, "I have too many people praying for me.""The community means a lot to us," Kathy Swaney says. "I think they felt led to rally around Mindi like they have. They have really been good to us and so has our church. The regulars help us with the coffee shop. They come in, take out the trash and lock up."As for those involved in the benefit, Byerly says "it's been amazing.""We've had a great time at rehearsals. We've got to see some people we haven't seen in a while and catch up … just like seeing old friends at summer camp. God's really blessed us with great times on Monday nights."Dwight Davis can be reached at 249-3981, ext, 226 or at dwight.davis@the-dispatch.com.

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